Town Square

Judge: Rail authority's funding plan violated law

The California High-Speed Rail Authority violated state law and "abused its discretion" in proceeding with the controversial San Francisco-to-Los Angeles train system without first identifying the funding sources for the line's first usable segment, a Sacramento Superior Court judge wrote in a Friday decision.

Opponents to the high-speed train in California have watched over the past five years as all their concerns and predictions of dire consequences went unheeded by the Democratic Legislature and Governor that many of those same HSR opponents supported.

Some of us have been railing against this project for as long as ten years. Serious critical analyses (The Due Diligence Report) were produced by Vranich and Cox in 2008 and then revised with more factual information more recently.

Bill Grindley and his team have, over the past several years, produced a series of factually based financial analyses demonstrating the disastrous and destructive cost/benefits of this project. And even the initiator and former Chairman of the Board of the CHSRA, former State Senator and Judge, Quentin Kopp has spoken harshly against the project as it evolved from its initial vague and hyper-inflated promises to the pathetic money spending train-wreck of a project it has become.

During all this time, we waited for some good news; that is, that reason would prevail, that some indication that our voices have been heard and that the stark realities of this boondoggle would become so apparent that the project would in fact become unfunded and terminated. The former State Senator, Joe Simitian, with enormous patience and persistence, sought to persuade his legislative colleagues that this project would be seriously harmful to the state. He also was ignored.

Now, with several lawsuits having gone through the pipeline, Superior Court Judge Kenny has finally -- FINALLY -- blown the whistle on this nightmare.

But, it's too soon to celebrate. The Judge has not issued an injunction to stop the project in its tracks. He indicated in his findings that there would be further review leading to actionable decisions.

So, now the question becomes, will Judge Kenny order the project to be de-funded and thereby terminated? It would mean ruling against the promise of the state of California being denied over three billion dollars, already obligated, from the Department of Transportation. It would mean ruling against the obsessive determination of the Governor, the will of the Democrat super-majority of the Legislature, and the passionate support of the project by the state's two Senators and the state's former Speaker of the House in Congress.

And, finally, it would be a terminal blow to the pro-high-speed rail policies and vision of the President of the United States and the Congressional majority of the Senate. It will take a lot of judicial cohones to make such a decision. And, it would be the right thing to do, speaking truth to power. But. . . .we're not there yet.